11th Annual Jameson Distinguished Lecture: A new paradigm for Minerals Processing – The Future is Innovation

About this event

The Annual Jameson Distinguished Lecture, in honour of Emeritus Professor Graeme Jameson is presented by the Hunter Region Branch to highlight innovations in mineral processing.

The survival of Australia’s mining industry has always been predicated on its lowest cost producer status. When the inevitable downturn hits, we remain in business. With the global transition to a low carbon economy, and rising expectations for corporate responsibility through ESG, our speaker, Kevin Galvin thinks it is time we recast survival in terms of lowest cost producer of concentrate status. The production of concentrate must be fit for purpose, maximising the grade-recovery curve, while recognising the need to align the grade with the next stage of processing, the opportunity, and the market, which is increasingly “green”. Some may argue this is not new. What is new, is the myriad of new critical and strategic minerals, complex challenges, and the emergence of global interest in the extreme, such as producing almost pure iron ore.

At the heart of this presentation, Kevin poses the question “Is mineral processing a mere commodity, nothing more to do, it’s on the shelf, just mix and match, and you can achieve your objectives?” If so, is our complacency at risk of irreversible disruption as we sink investment into 20^th century mineral processing, creating a litany of stranded assets? Could Australia lose its lowest cost producer of concentrate status”? If Australia seeks to occupy a sustainable position in downstream processing, to achieve “A Future Made in Australia”, its lowest cost status must continue. Sadly, we have seen the demise of nickel, one of the key battery metals, and rising pressure on lithium. Australia will not become an importer of concentrate to support downstream processing.

The University of Newcastle is leading the global effort in developing and commercialising new, game changing, technology in mineral beneficiation. This fact is not widely known and is very much a credit to the leadership and inspiration of Graeme Jameson, upon whose name this lecture is bestowed. Indeed, Newcastle is the lead institution in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals, involving nine Australian universities, industry partners, and overseas institutions. Kevin will therefore outline other remarkable breakthroughs from the Centre, for example, Professor Chunxia Zhao’s work at the University of Adelaide in cracking the DNA code for every mineral and metal in the periodic table by repurposing phage display technology into minerals processing. Novel peptides with extraordinary selectivity for metals have been identified, meaning we now need to reinvent mineral processing. Thus, Kevin argues, the scene is set for a New Paradigm for Minerals Processing – The Future is Innovation.

Speaker/s

Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin

Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals